great news: world leader in constructing Fabs roped in for Semindia plant.
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NEW DELHI: MW Zander, one of the world’s largest builders of hi-tech buildings and industrial plants, is all set to give shape to India’s semiconductor industry.

MW Zander will design and construct the assembly test and mark plant (ATMP) of the $3.5 AMD-SemIndia fab. Besides, the company is also in talks with Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation to set up its 10 proposed foundries worth $4 billion.

“We are designing SemIndia’s ATMP facility. We are also in talks with HSMC and SemIndia to design their facilities. Globally, facilities management and design constitutes about 25-30% of total project cost. We expect the same in India, “ MW Zander’s managing director Helmut Kurzboeck told ET.

Going by these calcualtions, the HSMC fab may yield $1 billion for MW Zander. The SemIndia fab proposed to be set up at a cost of $3.5 billion may yield $875 million in revenues for the company. “Of course, these revenues will flow over a period of many years,” Mr Kurzboeck added.

In India, MW Zander, is about 10 years old with life-sciences clients like Shantha Biotech, Ranbaxy, Reliance Life Sciences, Astra Zeneca and Ministry of Defence. The company provides clean room technology for the electronic, solar, pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnological and food-processing industries, research in the production of clean room components, construction technology as well as facility management.

The company provides end to end solutions for setting up a chip fab from consulting planning and construction to operation of semiconductor plants. MW Zander also provides sophisticated equipment like cleanroom ceiling grid systems, ultra filter fan units, air showers and precison air-conditioning systems used in chip manufacturing.

A cleanroom is an environment, typically used in chip manufacturing or scientific research, that has a low level of environmental pollutants such as dust, airborne microbes, aerosol particles and chemical vapors. Isocab and Hutchins & Hutchins are other big cleanroom suppliers in the world.

Projects of significant importance never get the attention they deserve

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HYDERABAD: Stung by criticism over the slow progress in the implementation of the prestigious semi-conductor complex near the city, the State Government has initiated a series of measures to give impetus to the project.

Chief Secretary J. Harinarayan held a meeting with senior officials of the Industries and Information Technology departments to identify and remove the bottlenecks in implementing the Fab City. The Industries Department began working out details of incentives like supply of power and water at concessional rates to be offered to the project. Sources said the Government would issue an order very soon clearing the land allotment and specifying the incentives as well as the guidelines to be followed by the promoter, SemIndia.

The Government is understood to have tentatively finalised a price of Rs. 20 lakhs an acre for alienation of 1,200 acres of Government land to the Fab City, the sources added.

However, only 300 acres would be handed over to SemIndia first for this price. The rest of the land would be allotted, depending on the response by others to establish units in the Fab City.

Senior officials, contacted by The Hindu, insisted that Fab City was going to be reality and dismissed the criticism by political parties as baseless. The Government signed an agreement with SemIndia on February 16 last and the company immediately registered its local arm on February 21.

They attributed the delay in issuing the relevant orders to the Centre not announcing its semi-conductor policy until February 22, 2007. They said SemIndia would invest Rs 15,000 crore for the Rs 40,000-crore mega project.

Following a message from the Government, SemIndia Chairman Vinod Agarwal is rushing here from the United States on Tuesday to respond to apprehensions being raised whether the project would come up at all and whether the company was competent enough to execute it.

It's not easy in Hyderabad
To build any new facility roads or flyovers in this complex concrete jungle called Hyderabad is a monumental task without being caught in legal problems, or a maze of cables and pipelines.

Though GHMC officials claim land acquisition was the reason for delays, they refuse to admit that they started these projects without acquiring land in the first place. A handful of properties, including those of two former judges, literally put a spanner in flyover works in the city, resulting in overshooting deadlines and inconvenience to road-users. The Punjagutta flyover was caught in legal wrangles. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), the executing agency, could acquire a property belonging to a showroom only in April, 2007, two months after the 'official' deadline. Similarly, the Greenlands flyover has overshot the deadline by eight months due to a hitch with four properties. The last of these was taken over in April. Likewise, it took nine months for officials to acquire property of one Habeeb at Chandrayanagutta. Though the flyover works began in September, 2005, acquisition was completed in April this year. These three flyovers showcase official apathy. As a result, traffic congestion is not an aberration, but the norm in the city.

Though GHMC officials claim land acquisition was the reason for delays, they refuse to admit that they started these projects without acquiring land in the first place. Of 116 properties identified for acquisition, 38 land owners gave their consent, while the majority settled for the land acquisition mode. Only a handful went to court. For getting a property of former judge B Subhashan Reddy at Somajiguda, the officials had to spend three months to complete all formalities to acquire it.

The branched-out Punjagutta flyover is eight months behind schedule. Changes in the alignment at Chutney's, acquisition of properties and ever-increasing traffic resulted in delay, claim officials. "Normally, construction of a pier takes 15 days, but due to underground cables, water and sewer lines, the contractor, Gammon India, could complete one pier in three months," GHMC superintending engineer R Sridhar said. Now, the corporation hopes to open it in November....

The 1.1 km-long Greenlands flyover is behind schedule by nine months. The contractor, JMC Projects, bagged the work in December, 2005 and was to complete it by February, 2007. However, the works were stalled at the Begumpet road over bridge (ROB) when the railways raised doubts on the stability of the bridge. The new flyover would be merged with the existing ROB. As the railways wanted to see the design of the flyover, precious two months was lost. The rail officials agreed to the proposal only after studying a JNTU report on the bridge post merger. After several impediments, the flyover works are now progressing. It is likely to be opened by November. The trumpet-shaped Nalgonda crossroads flyover got delayed for over eight months due to acquisition delays and traffic diversions. The disabled welfare department took five months to hand over property to GHMC. The flyover works began in November, 2005, but due to a controversy over the alignment drawings it actually started in January, 2006. It is likely to be over in September.

The smallest flyover (450 metre-long Chandrayanagutta flyover) took nearly two years for completion though the project time was just 10 months. The flyover works started in October, 2005 and should have been ready by September, 2006. Of six properties, one property owner went to court. After the court verdict, the corporation was forced to cough up Rs 7 lakh. With the flyover almost ready, the authorities plan to inaugurate it by August 15...

After nine long years and acquisition delays, the Sithaphalmandi ROB, which started in 1999, is likely to be ready by December.

The Jamai-Osmania ROB, which too began in 1999, is in the final stages of completion. It is likely to be opened by August 15.... Source: The Times of India

The green cover in the city is improving thanks to increasing awareness among people and initiatives by the government

Taking a refreshing walk at a park close to your home and not having to drive down to an oasis of greenery kilometres away, might soon become an everyday reality. The government and people are aggressively fighting to preserve the depleting green cover of the city and the endeavour has begun to show results.

The awareness to increase the green cover has increased in the last few years. Earlier, people lacked the right attitude but now – with alarming revelations about green cover depletion – the mindset is changing.

Says K S Reddy, IFS, executive director of Urban Forestry, “There are several new parks and gardens coming up. The Saroornagar Lake park and the one in Vanasthalipuram, are the latest on the list.” With concerns over global warming on the rise, it has become imperative to plant more trees and make space for gardens. The HUDA roughly differentiates parks into big parks and small parks. While the bigger ones require an investment of over Rs 2 crore and are located in commercial areas, the smaller parks can be budgeted at Rs 40 lakh and are usually in residential areas. The forest department also plants trees in specific areas or colonies on request. “We plant trees along roads, develop gardens and maintain them for a year, after which the responsibility is handed over to the colony authorities. There has been an increase in the number of such requests,” says Reddy.

Sheela Singh, a resident of Safilguda, says “The newly built park around Safilguda Lake is a boon.” Tree planting as an activity has also picked up. This is evident by the plant sales recorded by nurseries, close to Rs 100 crores. And with another Rs 40 crores as investment into urban forestry this year, the picture doesn’t look all that bleak.

However, building parks in a busy city is also challenging. Getting empty spaces is a challenge. “Our activities are limited to making parks around lakes, in GHMC-defined ‘open spaces’, or developing the existing ones,” Reddy sighs. The other issue is road widening. The trees planted along the roads are cut during road widening. To escape this, the HUDA plants trees along road dividers and in traffic islands. Making gardens and lawns around lakes has its disadvantages too. “Over the years, beautification activities – like spreading lawns – along lakeshores has depleted close to 30 per cent of the area of lakes,” says Veda Kumar, president of Forum for a Better Hyderabad.

The threat to the lake area is a rising concern. “I think authorities should plant trees rather than have lawns, which are water guzzlers,” says Shakti Singh, a college student. But with the government taking steps in the right direction and people feeling the dearth of the green cover, it looks like the city remaining evergreen might not be such a distant dream.

• According to a global norm, 33% of a city should have a green cover.

• In 2004, Hyderabad reached a level of 24% green space, which is a sharp rise from a mere 4.2% in 1994.

HYDERABAD: The long-awaited park in the midst of highly congested concrete jungle in Narayanguda is only six months away.

The Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA) will develop the most modern park with a swimming pool, gym, joggers' track, amphitheatre, skating rink, children's play area, ponds and foot bridges in over six acres of land acquired from the Excise Department.

HUDA Chairman D. Sudheer Reddy laid the stone for the Rs.4.5-crore park on Thursday, and called upon officials to complete it by October 2 when HUDA would turn 31years.

Healthy living

Emphasising the need for the park at Narayanguda for the benefit of people living in surrounding areas, he said pure air and water were important for a healthy living.

He said if Bathkamma kunta dispute were resolved, HUDA would develop a park in the 100-year-old kunta as suggested by Anjan Kumar Yadav, MP, to protect it from encroachments.

Mayor T. Krishna Reddy congratulated HUDA for taking up the work. He said some amount from Mayor's funds would be allotted for the park.

Himayatnagar MLA Kishan Reddy said the entire land should be allotted to the park.

Babji
This news totally went over my head! Do you have any more information on this project? The search feature seems to be down

They are keeping a low profile as it has already attracted some criticism from various opposition parties.

The issues raised by the INTAC and Heritage committees have been resolved. The builders agreed to preserve the heritage structures intact and to maintain them. The earth works are in progress. The AP State Tourism Dept also has a stake in it, so we can expect some thing really cool.

We may not get to see any pics or renderings soon for fear of negative publicity...

Mega tourism works in progress
The Tourism Department took up works valued at Rs 1,500 crore under public-private partnership (PPP) mode and some of them are in various stages of execution.

Works of Hyderabad Expo Centre and Spa training centre are nearing completion and would be inaugurated before the end of next month. Disclosing this at a press conference here today, after Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy formally launched the material pertaining to joint promotional initiatives by the Department and Air India at Assembly Committee Hall, Tourism Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy said that the Department has signed an agreement with Air India to promote tourism in Andhra Pradesh globally with an investment of up to Rs 24 lakh.

The influx of tourists to the State has slowly been increasing and it has touched 11.17 crore mark last year compared to 5.2 lakh visitors in 2001. Foreigners among the visitors last year were about 6.6 lakh. Night bazar in the city outskirts and Shilpa Sampada at Shilparamam will be ready next year.

Similarly, tenders were already invited for the construction of 30 budget hotels. The Minister informed that the Department would also utilise the occasion of conducting the 4th Military World Games in the city to promote tourism world-wide as defence personnel from about 90 countries will be participating in the games. An eight-day cultural programme 'Vijaya' will be held on the occasion of Military World Games. Source: The New Indian Express

There is, no doubt, overwhelming response for the LANCO project.The price at which it was sold went upto Rs4250/- per sq ft.The signature tower is bound to come.The approval of International Aviation Authority,Canada is awaited.I can say optimistically that demand for ten more LANCO Size project is there in Hyderabad.

Hey tats cool man... But I surely think, by the time it completes there will be some other project which overtakes its height making it no longer remain the tallest residential tower

And guys please dont drag the previous thread more!!! Continue in this one!.

Exactly what I said, there is overwhelming response because of the advertisement done about signature tower. Did they open bookings for the signature tower? If so, upto how many floors.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranga

There is, no doubt, overwhelming response for the LANCO project.The price at which it was sold went upto Rs4250/- per sq ft.The signature tower is bound to come.The approval of International Aviation Authority,Canada is awaited.I can say optimistically that demand for ten more LANCO Size project is there in Hyderabad.

They are keeping a low profile as it has already attracted some criticism from various opposition parties.

The issues raised by the INTAC and Heritage committees have been resolved. The builders agreed to preserve the heritage structures intact and to maintain them. The earth works are in progress. The AP State Tourism Dept also has a stake in it, so we can expect some thing really cool.

We may not get to see any pics or renderings soon for fear of negative publicity...

Not only opposition parties even some from the ruling party opposed the project and wanted the site for the office of APCC shifted from Gandhi Bhavan.But one thing is certain .The 60 story building is not coming as it is not permitted in that area.